OKEHAMPTON Tennis Club has been assured that new courts are very much part of the enhancement of sports facilities in the town although they may not be part of the lottery bid.
The club is worried about the condition of the present courts which are 'in need of repair or fairly prompt replacement'.
Work on the courts has been delayed because of the wait in hearing whether a lottery bid to create a sports complex was successful.
West Devon Borough Council is preparing to re-submit a bid to the lottery board after the first one failed because it was too ambitious and lacked partnership funding.
The £3-million bid is a scaled down version of the original and there is some concern that the tennis courts have been left out of the enhancement programme.
Chairman of the tennis club David Carter said in a letter to Okehampton Town Council since the club was reformed in the mid-1990s the demand for tennis had increased considerably, particularly with the younger element in the town.
'We want to ensure this demand is met and the town's children have the opportunity to develop their tennis skills,' he said.
Deputy chief executive of West Devon Borough Council David Inman said that the position in relation to the tennis club was likely to remain unchanged from the proposals originally submitted with an intended three courts in the park in front of the swimming pool.
He said for phase one of the bid, details of the project were not required.
The lottery board firstly needed to be satisfied on the rough costed outline detailing the amount of local funding and the amount of lottery funding required.
'The details will then be worked up in phase two,' he said. 'One variance we may contemplate is funding of the new tennis court element through a Sports Aid Foundation grant coupled with a Lawn Tennis Association grant.'
Mr Inman said this would allow more concentration on the tennis element than had it merely been replaced through the lottery board.